Hi.... If you have had her for 1-2 years and have been doing twice daily water changes on her 2.5 gal tank this whole time, then I don't think the water quality is what's causing her to not eat. In a 2.5 gal tank with twice weekly water changes, the ammonia, toxins and bacterial levels are most likely pretty low. And she's been with you long enough that she'll have adjusted to the pH, hardness, etc by now.

What brand of water conditioner do you use? It should be something that neutralizes/removes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals. What do the directions say to add? (Adding a little extra conditioner isn't an issue, but I agree with the others: 2.5 tablespoons sounds like a huge amount! )

When was the last time she pooped? She may just be constipated.

The Aqueon pellets are OK, but they do contain a lot of grains. In some bettas, this can cause constipation. If this is her problem, switching to the Omega One pellets may solve the problem.

I would add a small amount of Epsom salt to her tank. This should be 100% magnesium sulfate. (No dyes, perfumes or additives.) It's available at supermarkets and pharmacies (but not petstores).

Take a cup of her tank water. Add 1.25 teaspoons Epsom salt. Stir until dissolved. Add this back to her tank. This will provide a dosage of 0.5 teaspoons Epsom salt per gallon.

After at least one hour, repeat this. That will bring the dosage up to 1 teaspoon Epsom salt per gallon.

Epsom salt is has a laxative effect (in both people and fish). However, it may take 2-3 days to work. Monitor her tank for poop. If it's not "normal" looking, let us know.

Also, put plastic wrap over the top of her tank. This will increase humidity levels, and help her breathe more easily.

*** Note: If you think she is pineconing *** - Repeat the process of adding Epsom salt to her tank until you've achieved a dosage of 3 teaspoons Epsom salt per gallon. (I would make the increases occur over a 2 day time period, not all at once. This will lessen the risk of osmotic shock.) The Epsom salt will help reduce the fluid retention. Add an antibiotic such as Kanaplex, which can treat internal bacteria.

Hi.... If you have had her for 1-2 years and have been doing twice daily water changes on her 2.5 gal tank this whole time, then I don't think the water quality is what's causing her to not eat. In a 2.5 gal tank with twice weekly water changes, the ammonia, toxins and bacterial levels are most likely pretty low. And she's been with you long enough that she'll have adjusted to the pH, hardness, etc by now.

What brand of water conditioner do you use? It should be something that neutralizes/removes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals. What do the directions say to add? (Adding a little extra conditioner isn't an issue, but I agree with the others: 2.5 tablespoons sounds like a huge amount! )

When was the last time she pooped? She may just be constipated.

The Aqueon pellets are OK, but they do contain a lot of grains. In some bettas, this can cause constipation. If this is her problem, switching to the Omega One pellets may solve the problem.

I would add a small amount of Epsom salt to her tank. This should be 100% magnesium sulfate. (No dyes, perfumes or additives.) It's available at supermarkets and pharmacies (but not petstores).

Take a cup of her tank water. Add 1.25 teaspoons Epsom salt. Stir until dissolved. Add this back to her tank. This will provide a dosage of 0.5 teaspoons Epsom salt per gallon.

After at least one hour, repeat this. That will bring the dosage up to 1 teaspoon Epsom salt per gallon.

Epsom salt is has a laxative effect (in both people and fish). However, it may take 2-3 days to work. Monitor her tank for poop. If it's not "normal" looking, let us know.

Also, put plastic wrap over the top of her tank. This will increase humidity levels, and help her breathe more easily.

*** Note: If you think she is pineconing *** - Repeat the process of adding Epsom salt to her tank until you've achieved a dosage of 3 teaspoons Epsom salt per gallon. (I would make the increases occur over a 2 day time period, not all at once. This will lessen the risk of osmotic shock.) The Epsom salt will help reduce the fluid retention. Add an antibiotic such as Kanaplex, which can treat internal bacteria.

I haven't had her for 1 or 2 years by the way, I am just guessing that is her age. I haven't seen her poop, so maybe is she is constipated like you pointed out. Also, the water conditioner is Aqueon as well as the food was and it said 1 tsp per gallon, not tablespoon... I know not very smart on my part... I guess that explains why I had to get so much water conditioner all the time... Thank you for the advice, and I will do what you suggested!

You are absolutely fine trying to help your friend, i didn't know anything when i got my first betta :) Would you please tell us when you got her? Is she like that from day one that you have her? Did she ever behave differently? Did she ever eat ,or she is not eating since you brought her home? She is not bloated you said right? Make sure you buy Epsom salt just like LittleBlueFishlets wrote without any additives (just plain unscented Epsom salt)

Yup, just got some Epsom salt. No, she was not like this when I got her. She was actually very active for the first couple of days, and ate for those couple of days too. I would say by now I have had her for almost a week, and yup, she is not bloated. I did get her to eat one pellet earlier in the day but I suppose that won't make things better since it was my old pellets and like Littleblue said, they could maybe be causing the constipation. ( yeah i still have Aqueon pellets because I got the flakes instead of the pellets...)

Did you have a chance to check the water?
Since you have her for about a week and she was active and eating it can be the problem with your water to begin with. So when you can ,just go to the store and let them check the water so we can rule out the water problem. Some people have issue with ammonia in their tap water. So i think it important to do that so we can figure out what is going on. Ask them to give you actual reading instead of telling that your water is fine. If there is any issues with water try to buy Prime by Seachem. It water conditioner that remove more stuff from the water than other water conditioners.
Flakes are not really good either, they also be cause constipation. If you didn't open them i would return them and buy New Life Spectrum betta pellets or Omega One Betta Bafflet Pellets. LittleBlueFishlets said that if those pellets causing constipation then switch to other pellets. But we don't know yet what is the problem. You can still feed with Aqueon until you find the recommended pellets. Just make sure you don't give more than 2 pellets at once. It really good that she ate a pellet today, may be she is improving. Did you do any water changes?
Do you have a lot of gravel in her tank? If you can take it out with next water change, it will help to monitor her poop,so we can rule out constipation and internal parasites. With internal parasites poo will be white,clear, broken white wormy ,stringy shape.
And do the Epsom like LittleBlueFishlets recommended to you.
Please give us update .

I would honestly start with not using so much conditioner. The probability of it causing harm is slim, yes. You'd most likely have to dump in half the bottle to do any harm, but that's only what I've heard. I know no one who has actually tried it to find out for sure. Plus, even if its harmless, you really don't want all those extra chemicals in the tank.

So you've only had her a week? And she was OK for the first few days, then clamped up and stopped eating? Are those her only symptoms?

If so, then it may just be a food issue. What you're giving her is probably different from what she's had before, and you may be feeding her more food than she's used to. I don't know if bettas get indigestion, but if so, that may be what she's dealing with. Or she may be constipated from the new food (and quantity of it).

I would simply fast her for a day, then feed her small meals for a few days until she's used to the new food. You can still add the 0.5 teaspoons Epsom salt per gallon - this won't hurt her. Monitor the tank to make sure she's not constipated.

Aqueon water conditioner is fine. Just dose according to the directions on the bottle.

If you bring a water sample to the petstore, ask them to give you specific numbers when they test it. (Often, they'll just say that it's OK, but not give you more info than that.)